Kid Kiran leads the charge for Glamorgan

KIRAN Carlson proved the starturn as Glamorgan successfully chased down a T20 victory target of 195 in London against Surrey on Tuesday night.

The result, which revived the county’s hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages, saw 20-year-old Carlson score his maiden T20 half-century, hitting 58 off 32 balls coming in at four to help Glamorgan rack up early runs.

Carlson struck up partnerships with Craig Meschede, who scored 43 off just 19 balls, and Graham Wagg who stood firm in the middle order with an unbeaten 46.

The Glamorgan pathway player was confident the Welsh county could successfully chase down the impressive target of 194 and ended up being the team’s highest contributor.

“We came off after bowling knowing that it was a good wicket with a pretty short boundary and a quick outfield so we backed ourselves from the start,” said Carlson.

“You kind of have to bat with instinct when you’re in a T20 scenario and it’s a bit of see ball hit ball. Luckily it came off today and we managed to chase down a big score.

“It’s always nice to contribute, but Graham Wagg batted brilliantly and so did Craig Meschede and when you look at it, the innings at the top was priceless so it was nice to get the win.

“We went out there believing we can chase anything with our batting lineup so it was nice to have got over the line and hopefully we can pick up that momentum throughout the rest of the campaign.”

Meanwhile, the county’s acting skipper Chris Cooke, who was thrust into the leadership role at the last minute, was full of praise for his team’s resilience.

“I’m incredibly proud of everyone, that was a great run chase. We lost Joe Burns yesterday and Colin Ingram today and I only found out I would be captain on the bus coming here but it was a triumph out of adversity and just a really good win for us.

“Kiran Carlson has got bundles of talent and his partnership with Graham Wagg won us the game but Colin Meschede hitting three sixes was a turning point,” he said.

“He has batted at No.3 before and it was another dynamic innings which was just what we needed.

The Welsh county’s next match is against local rivals Gloucestershire at Sophia Gardens tomorrow night with adult advance tickets just £16 and U17s tickets only £5.